Krav Maga, also known at Haganah which means "Defense" in Hebrew, is an Israeli martial art that is very brutal and very high level defense. Used in the Israeli army, the United States has an official organization run by a man named Mike Kanarek, and developed the F.I.G.H.T program (Fierce Israeli Guerrilla Hand-to-hand Tactics).
I walked in an the test had already begun. There were a lot of adults who participate in Master DeJesus's Haganah program, including three future instructors who I have had the privilege working with in my lessons with Master DeJesus. Two adults were testing. One man named Jim, another woman named Vivian. They began with a few rounds of "sparring" matches with head gear and gloves only. The blows they had to take were very real. You get hit, you GET HIT. But that's reality. If someone tries to harm you, they will.
After that they had to do several physically demanding rounds of drills and exercises they had to do. And the entire time, the instructors and Master DeJesus were very tough on them, trying their very best to break them down not only physically but mentally and emotionally. Just as if you were in an army bootcamp. They had to do maybe three minutes of three punches consecutively on the shield someone was holding and focus only on those three punches, while Master DeJesus or one of the other adults just threw shots at them. Shin kicks to the legs, uppercuts to the gut, punches to the face, and they did SEVERAL rounds of this and in between would have 30 sec to 1 minute rounds of either push ups, squats, burpees, planks, whatever they were asked to do.
Any outsider who never trained would look at this kind of test and be appalled and think it barbaric. If you are a sadist like me, you are thinking "When can I try!?" I absolutely LOVED seeing this kind of test for several legitimate reasons. One: the physical and mental demands that were required to get through a test like this was extremely challenging and if you can get through this kind of beat-down, you get get through anything in your life. As far as self-confidence in yourself, watching this test you can honesty say there is NO chance for fear to set into your mind if you were ever attacked. And you also learn and gain a lot of tolerance because you really are taking some heavy shots. Of course it's all in controlled manner (for the most part) but how many people are afraid of getting hit in the face? You won't be after this kind of test.
I really felt like I can get through a test like this as I continued to watch. But in the back of my mind, that little voice said to me "Pssh! You see those punches? You can't take a shot like that!" So of course what do I start thinking? I better be sure I can! I have already created an entire "to-do list" after my master's in pursuing this training and procedure of testing. It got me so pumped and motivated! And it was very admirable to see the level of perseverance these two adults had. They were really taking a beating, but by no means were they going to stop. And kudos to them!
The last thing they had to do was THE GAUNTLET. I heard a few people mention it, but had no idea what it was. So of course when the time came, Brian had asked me to come onto the mats and threw me a glove. And then I became a part of what was to be THE GAUNTLET. There were about a dozen of us with gloves on and six people on each side with a three foot gap between the two lines. Vivian and/or Jim would have to punch a shield all the way to the other side of the dojang while Master DeJesus pushed the holder against them for resistance while all of us on either side would punch Vivian and/or Jim going across to the other side.
To see the drive from these two individuals was awe-inspiring. Nothing could beat these two down. I was so proud of them and this was the first time I was meeting them! Vivian asked me if my tests her "harder." Tough question because I do a lot of everything that pertains to our training, not just the self-defense part, but watching this test, PHEW! Pretty brutal. And by the way: they were testing for yellow and blue belts! NOT Black or anything like that!
It was an awesome experience, and I know if I keep at it with my training I will be able to accomplish what these two have one day. I was privileged to witness this test and am looking forward to seeing where my own training will lead up to. And congratulations to both Vivian and Jim on their perseverance in their testing!
Yours in service,
ANDREW TRENTO
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